The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-08-11
!, Stock Food VIII Be Scarce.

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~ every part of the country are very
discouraging to stock-raisers. If there
Is . state or territory that has d, full
crop Of grass or clover, or even q near
approach to one. it is yet 20 be heard
from. Throughout the great stock
ra: sing RECON of the west there is q
general failure of fodder crops. Grass
on the prairies that have never been
plowed is very light. Land that usu.
ally produces a ton and a half of wild
hay to the acre will not produce half q
ton. The best fields are on ground re.
Gently seeded to timothy and red CID
ver.- As feedin pastures is very short,
many farmers have turned their stock
upon the land where they have Abeen
accustomed to cut grass. to, turn into
hay. They have thus diminished the
area to be mown, There may be d fair
crop of wheat and oats, but the straw
of these grains is very short. Many
farmers preferred to follow the advice
recently given in The Times about SOW
ing millet, but in many cases they found
their land too dry. to plow. while the
price of seed was high. The prospect
is that very little miGlet has been ra :sed.
The season has been as: poor for POI
tatoes and roots as for clover and grass.
Corn is represented as more promising
than could REASONABLY be expected, but
unless there is a heavy rainfall within
q few days. a good WELD of corn fodder
or of grain will be impossible. How
to find food to keep. stock over the
coming winter is the question that
nearly every farmer is endeavoring to
answer. Many think that they will
buy fodder. raised in some section of
the country where It'll. abundant. ] The
great difficult will be in finding this
place. # it, can be discovered, the
next difficult will be. in. obtaining mon
ey to buy the food. Animals are very
low in price, and hay and all the sub
stitates for it. are very high Many
farmers are doubtless expecting to sell
a large partsof their stock. but most of
them will find much trouble in doing
this. The animals are poor now on
account of the scarcity of grass and
water, and there is little on most farms
that can be used for f~attening them.
Every market in the country IS over
stocked with cattle and sheep, aud. the
prices for them, heretofore low, are
steadily declining. To buy food for
the purpose Of using it to fatten steers
is to lose money. APP. ~.,s.
Rains may come in season to make
the fall feed in pastures tolerably good,
and to enable farmers to cut a second
crop of hay on some of their land. In
some sections fall rye may be- :sown,
which will afford winter p~asturage. A
few acres in flat turnips will supply a
considerable amount Of food that can
be used late in the fall. Still, it seems
certain that, the great majority of farm
ers will find great dificultyin carrying
their stock over the coming winter,
They will find it necessary to- stack all
their straw and to make the most out
OF. it. They will also find it necessary
to pay more attention to cutting up
their ornfodder at the proper time,
and to protect it from frost and storms.
Grass grown in sloughs will be worth
cutting this year. and it is likely that
cattle will be- glad to get it to eat.
Bean vines should be saved, as they
make good food for sheep. The hand
scythe should be used for cutting grass
that can not be secureu .bya moving
machine. The grass that grows on the
sides of the roads should all. be secur-
ed. - $. fl IT'S "
It is likely that ffaxseed will be worth
more for feed this year than for pro-
ducing oil. English farmers feed oil
cake with straw to excellent advantage.
In Canada good results are reported
from feeding a mixture Of ground flax
seed, oats, and peas. with cut straw,
soghum or corn fodder. In the opin-
ion OF some feeders. atom. OF. oat straw.
and a bushel of ground faxseed and
four bushels of ground peas or orn are
equal to q ton of the best hay.-CA ica-
go Times. "
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